TUESDAY TRIADS!

Few pastors are as succinct as Scotty Smith! He says the most with the fewest words!

Think crisp with clarity!

A BIG thanks to Doris, one of his faithful followers, and Quad Squad member for sharing a recent Scotty NT Gospel Triad with me.

1. Who are believers? "Called, loved and kept" (Jude 1:1)
2. What are believers given? "Grace, mercy, and peace" (2 John 1:3)
3. What will last in a believers life? "Faith, hope, and love" (1 Corinthians 13:13)

How do I know this triad was for me? 

I needed it after a week's worth of being "off the grid" to focus on & care for Hubby after his serious reverse shoulder replacement surgery. 

He needs it as well. Think "right-hander" living with only left hand usage and pain.

For us, tonight's Allen Bible Church selection from the  ABC 2026 Reading Plan is 1 Corinthians 13 (A favorite Scripture of his)

Romans 12:12, a fave Bible verse for me from dear friend Dixie, is on my side of the bed to see as I get up to aid Hubby during the middle of the night! Controls to access his recliner are on the right side and unable to be reached by his left hand. One more affliction he faces. Grateful so many friends are faithful in prayer for us as Hubby heals. 

 

These triads are God's truth for all believers.

Today I see them as "God winks" for me, a needy believer who is so-so grateful!

TRUST = MY ONE WORD 2026!

My One Word  has been a yearly focus for me since friend Angie G. gave Lisa D., Margie H., and me the book in 2017!

The same word---a daily focus as well as a yearly one! 

Verses may vary but the word won't!

A daily THRUST!

That's it...........

A Thrust of TRUST!

It (love).......always trusts,....(1 Corinthians 13:7)

WEDNESDAY WISDOM WALK!

Busy day with 7 family guys walking on golf paths, 1 daughter-in-law is walking around Lake Junaluska and I am walking through love verses. and praying for these family folk.

I am using 5 words or fewer from these verses for "pithy with a punch" words, without losing the context.

• Love is patient and kind. (1 Corinthians 13:4)
• Do all in love. (1 Corinthians 16:14)
• Above all put on love. (Colossians 3:14)
• Love one another earnestly. (1Peter 4:8)
• God is love. (1 John 4:8)

Jesus shows and gives the greatest love.

MOVE FORWARD FEARS!

Move forward in faith----not fear!

Medical fears! How can that be when I belong to the Great Physician?!

The fears I feel, in response to the growing impact of amyloids, stroke, and heart issues are not from Him!

2 Timothy 1:7  reminds me, He does not give the spirit of fear but of power, love and a sound mind. Not sure how much soundness is left in my mind......but God, is the One whom I trust even in the midst of these fluctuating medical issues, a "mess" of emotions, a "kaleidoscope of feelings." AKA fear.

Lord, this week I seek to exercise, sound mind----self- control, good & sound judgment, and wise discretion, no matter how I define it. Self-preservation needs to take a back seat to Your glory. I need to move forward in faith.

May I learn to handle my pain/fears with hope because I trust in you.

PLS--PLEASE & THANK YOU----for the power, love and self-discipline you have given me for this season.

WHOLE-HEARTED

Synonym Survey of wholehearted on this Wordsmith Wednesday!

(wholehearted (Allen Bible Church graphic)

• abiding.
• ardent.
• authentic.
• bona fide.
• candid.
• committed.
• complete.
• dedicated.

My focus verses this year deal with the love of one's heart. 

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul with all your mind and with all all your strength. The second is  this: 'Love your neighbor as yoursel'. There is no commandment greater than these." (Mark 12:30-31)

I like the Weymouth New Testament version that uses "whole" as the descriptor....and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, thy whole soul, thy whole mind, thy whole strength and thy fellow man as much as thyself). (Luke 10:27 WNT, emphasis mine)

It keeps wholehearted ringing in my ears with the whole of its synonyms.

LEARNINGS FROM LITERATURE.....KIDDIE LIT, THAT IS

Reading aloud is important. I'm an advocate of that principle.

A child's receptive vocabulary is present much sooner than their expressive vocabulary and reading aloud is the way to increasing the breadth of that learning. Even as an adult I like to be a recipient of someone reading aloud---thus my Libby app  (audio from the public library) stays full!

Being a DiCamillo fan, (Because of Winn Dixie)  I picked this one up last week as I perused the kiddie lit shelves. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane.

Learnings from a china bunny---aka recollections from a rabbit on a day after day, season after season, year after year of a miraculous "love" journey. 

• Beauty makes no difference. It all started with a story of a princess who loved no one and cared nothing for love, even though there were many who loved her. (p. 29) Self-centered, maybe?
• Is wanting to be with someone love? (p. 88)
• "We are going nowhere. That my friend is the irony of constant movement, Bull, the hobo. (p.95)
• He wanted to be with them. The rabbit wondered if that was love.
• And so he listened. And in his listening his heart opened wide and then wider still. (p.103) Reminds me of James 1:19, (emphasis, mine.)
• Love can include waiting. Loving can be painful. 
• Hugging feels good. (p.141)

Even a heart of the most breakable kind can learn to love, to lose and to love again is the learning listed on the book flap of the book. 

A learning to take to heart from a kid's book.

CHURCH ATTIRE

Church attire has absolutely nothing to do with the clothes you wear when you attend Sunday services. It has everything to do with the spiritual clothes believers don.

The church is the "body of Christ" and as such the spiritual wardrobe is to be worn daily. (Colossians 3:12-17)

A recent sermon by son, Buddy brought this wardrobe to mind. Click link below to listen.

Wanted Worshippers:Church Clothes January 13, 2019 

So.....don't use this blog entry as an excuse to go shopping. Rather go to your closet for the clothes of your choice----just wear them with the right attitude, especially when you join others in worship.

CHOOSE: NEW EQUATION

New mug at brother Bobby's for my morning cuppa says it all as I begin the day and share "tea" with him, a fellow hot tea aficionado. A morning ritual  carry over from childhood days at 2211 in Hoptown!

Start the day grounded in faith (Colossians 2:7) and filled with hope (Colossians 1:23) to give joy for one's self that it might be poured out into the lives of others to bolster their faith. (Ephesians 3:17)

Equation of the heart: Rooted and grounded in faith + gospel hope = joy and love poured in to one's heart and then out to others!

Choose this equation daily!

Profundi-TEA

Profundi-TEA--I'm steeping a big cuppa to share the deep (for me) insight which the Lord has shown me to aid my knowledge of John !5:1-17.

Irish Breakfast is a good strong black tea---perfect to jog "profound" thoughts!

THOTS as I have dubbed it---Trusting Him On This Subject!

This past week in response to a valid question asked by BSF friend, Jackie, I shared with her how John 15 had changed my "spiritual" life. Then, she asked me how many verses were in the book of John.  I realized that I had not a clue.

So, last Wednesday, I opened my Bible to the book of John (27 verses, by the way) and realized it was not the entire chapter that had so impacted my "first" journey into Bible study. It was the "abiding" passage in the first 17 verses which the Lord used to draw me unto Himself.

As I returned to the passage, I began to use the "precept" method of inductive Bible Study re-introduced to me by Marilyn LeBlanc in our "Summer Refreshment " study of the book of Esther.
I began to look for key words.

As I meditated (and counted # of times certain words were used) I found abide (11) love (9) & bear fruit (7) Arranging  them in descending numerical order put them in alphabetical order----which spells alb.

Alb---a white linen robe worn by a priest at mass.

For the first time in 40 years, when I was first introduced to this passage by Bible teacher Kay Arthur, I saw those words becoming my personal "alb" as the white robe (Psalm 51:7) of His righteousness (Isaiah 61:10) of "my high priest" (Hebrews 4:14) covered me as I worshipped!

I'm not sure the "steeping" is complete in my cuppa profundi-TEA as there still seems to be a few thoughts "brewing" in my head. But....I decided to pour out what I've learned so far. (before I forget it) 

SaveSave
SaveSave

"chari-TEA"

And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity. (1 Corinthians 13:13, KJV)

Chari-TEA! It's all about love. The Greek for charity is "agape" translated as unconditional love. Here in these verses from 1 Corinthians 13, one clearly gets the idea that love is NOT about self.

"Self" often acts for its own profit, and seeks its own with a "puffed up" ego. According to this chapter, charity does none of these. Longsuffering and kindness are factors of this love. Charity bears all things with hope and endurance.

Without love, mankind is nothing.

It's a covenant love of God for humans, as well as the human reciprocal love for God; the term necessarily extends to the love of one’s fellow man.

Dr. Constable dubs the 13th chapter of 1 Corinthians as the supremacy of love. "Love is the most fundamental and prominent of these graces. The love in view is God's love, that He has placed in the believer by the indwelling Spirit, that should overflow to God and others." (p. 153)
An over flow of my morning tea opened my eyes to the reality of a cuppa chari-TEA. Overflowing of love is a good thing.

Disclaimer, I added a little tea to the saucer so that you could see it & get the idea.
Not the first time such a spill has taken place---but now it has meaning.

Sipping a cuppa chari-TEA allows love for God and others to spill over into life, just as the saucer for my morning brew caught the overflow and drips from my cup. That's what our charity needs to do......splash all over others and cover them with love.

"dain-TEA" love prints

...out of the abundance (overflow) of the heart  his mouth speaks. (Luke 6:45, Amplified)

I would "amplify" that verse to include actions---because one's actions follow what one is thinking  (mind) and feeling (heart.) Proverbs 27:19 backs up my thought: "As water reflects the face, so one's life reflects the heart."

In the Hebrew culture, the heart was the metaphor for the core of one's being. Center of one's personality. "It was a spiritual hub and life flowed from its orientation." (gods of war, p. 31)

If a heart is filled with love....it's love that flows forth. Love in words AND deeds.

Love can be shown in a variety of ways---but "hands on" love is the best. Being the hands and feet of God. Doing unto others. Serving with an overflow of the love of your heart....or if you are just two years old, making your dainty hands into a heart shape print for your grandarents' Valentine card, is the perfect expression.

Lucy's card was by me as I sipped my morning brew in a dain-TEA cup and opened my Bible to scriptures of love.

Happy Valentine’s Day

2/14/09 Love is in the air---or it should be---with every breath you take! Have you shown God’s love to someone today?! Remember there’s a world of hurting people---everyone has a burden or some kind of “baggage,” so let’s be sensitive and extend a “hand” of grace and love to family, friends and beyond. I’m getting a little “preachy” here, aren’t I?? It’s because my experience with my rare cancer, aka Big MAC, has clearly shown me the difference the depth of His love for me and the love from others has made in my life. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. (John 15:13) How grateful I am to have a Savior who laid down His life for me. Today, may I lay down my self-centeredness---dying to “self “ in every way, that I might love others better.